Students continue food, reform demo

JAKARTA (JP): On-campus student protests calling for reforms and lower prices for basic commodities raged on in at least nine universities in Java yesterday.

And thousands of students in South Sulawesi's capital of Ujungpandang took to the streets again.

Protests were staged by more than 1,500 students in at least six universities in Jakarta, more than 3,000 from two universities in Central Java's capital of Semarang, more than 500 in East Java's Surabaya and hundreds of others in a university in Bogor, West Java, and Yogyakarta.

In Ujungpandang thousands gathered in front of the South Sulawesi Provincial Legislative Council's office and staged a free-speech forum while waiting for their delegation, which met with local councilors.

The students came from Muhammadiyah University, University '45, Unsat Makassar, YPUP Economy and Management Institute and several other privately run institutes in the city.

Yesterday's student action in Ujungpandang was the third street protest after two similar rallies were staged last week. Security was tight but officers were only seen escorting the students, The Jakarta Post's correspondent there reported.

Helped by local legislators, the students managed to fax their four-page statement to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in Jakarta which, among other things, demanded lower prices for basic commodities.

The students dispersed peacefully. No arrests or violence was reported.

On-campus protests in Jakarta also ended without any mishaps.

More than 1,000 students participated in a protest at the Depok campus of state-run University of Indonesia, in the city's outskirts.

At a media conference held by half a dozen members of the student senate after the protest, they said the protest was a continuation of last week's demonstrations.

"And we will continue until we are listened to. We were very disappointed by our meeting with the Armed Forces faction of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) last week.

"We reject their calls for gradual reform. Our message is that we must have total political reform," one of the students said, referring to a widely publicized meeting with members of the MPR last week.

Hundreds of students of the privately run Atmajaya Catholic University, Nasional University and the National Institute of Science and Technology also held free-speech forums on their campuses, calling for political reform and lower prices.

Similar protests took place at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture in Bogor and in the Airlangga University in the East Java capital of Surabaya.

In Semarang, about 3,000 students of Diponegoro University kept up their pressure for similar demands to be met.

One of the lecturers who joined yesterday's free-speech forum was poet Darmanto Jatman, who challenged his campus colleagues to join the student protests.

"If they dare not (join you to air these concerns), I reckon they have no conscience at all," he charged.

Also in Semarang, 10 students of the state-run Walisongo Islamic Institute continued yesterday their protest, entering their fifth day of a hunger strike held inside two black makeshift tents established on their campus ground.

Four students of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta ended their hunger strikes after 15 days.

Sugandhi, a doctor from Sardjito Hospital here, suggested the students stop their hunger strike due to their weak physical condition.

Fendry Ponomban, one of the organizers of student protests in the university, said they would go on protesting nevertheless.

Also in Yogyakarta, hundreds of students of the Indonesian Islamic University -- accompanied by four of their deans -- also staged a free-speech forum. (30/23/24/har/nur/aan)